I imagine at one point people asked that about Christianity and Islam.

The difference is that many miracles accompanied Christianity, so it convinces others to believe in it, while that 17th century sect did no miracles, so it’s illogical to believe in it, the same thing applies to Islam…

The difference is that many miracles accompanied Christianity, so it convinces others to believe in it, while that 17th century sect did no miracles, so it’s illogical to believe in it, the same thing applies to Islam…

Quakers are a Christian sect, acceptance of the principles underlying the society of friends is not based on miracles occurring in the 17th century. I think you need to research this group in more detail to thoroughly understand them. I have a great deal of respect for the Quakers who saved thousands of lives in my own country at extreme risk to their own live in many cases.

The difference is that many miracles accompanied Christianity, so it convinces others to believe in it, while that 17th century sect did no miracles, so it’s illogical to believe in it, the same thing applies to Islam…

Mmm, in my experience, and from history, Quakers seem to have a very high rate of taking the Gospel seriously and living it. There’s a reason people trusted food produced and sold by Quakers, before we had strict regulations on safety and quality. There’s a reason people still feel so positively toward the Fry’s and Cadbury’s and Rowntree’s brands, even though they’ve all been bought out by multinationals now: excellent people to work for.

I would be very surprised to see a Quaker wander into a thread on a message board about whether there were any other contributors who were Catholic, and start criticising Catholics. I am sadly resigned to see a Catholic wander into a thread on a message board about whether there were any other contributors who were Quaker, and start criticising Quakers.

Obviously we don’t think they have the fullness of the truth, but Quakers usually have actually spent quite a while deciding what they believe and why, and developing their spirituality. If you want to ask what they believe and why, then you are free to start a thread asking that. I expect there will be some Quakers on here who would be glad to answer such questions, in an appropriate thread. But ambushing Quakers simply for saying they are Quaker is not Christlike.

Interesting fact about the Irish and the Quakers I discovered researching my family history.
Many Irish converted to the Society of Friends in the 19th century because, the story goes, only the Catholic Church and the Quakers came to the aid of starving Irish during the Great Hunger. I found a few Irish with my last name buried in Quaker cemetaries.

[quote="JustaServant, post:10, topic:289851"]
Interesting fact about the Irish and the Quakers I discovered researching my family history.
Many Irish converted to the Society of Friends in the 19th century because, the story goes, only the Catholic Church and the Quakers came to the aid of starving Irish during the Great Hunger. I found a few Irish with my last name buried in Quaker cemetaries.

[/quote]

This would be unfair to a number of Anglican ministers who also came to their aid, there is one particular minister who worked in Cork who kept sending letters to the govt. pleading for help while trying to aid the local people who eventually died after contracting typhoid fever. He was not alone but his letters are particularly heart breaking as he records whole villages departing overseas and in one particular instance finding a whole family dead. Others also tried to come to our aid, the Chcotaw people tried to contribute what they could as did the Ottoman Sultan of the era interestingly enough. Those Protestant groups which did try and prosleytise did leave a legacy of lasting bitterness though which the Quaker Alfred Webb decried.

Oscar Wilde's mother who was a committed Irish nationalist and wrote under the pen name of Speranza composed this poem at the height of An Gorta Mor:-

Weary men, what reap ye? Golden corn for the stranger.

What sow ye? Human corpses that wait for the avenger.
Fainting forms, Hunger—stricken, what see you in the offing
Stately ships to bear our food away, amid the stranger's scoffing.
There's a proud array of soldiers—what do they round your door?
They guard our master's granaries from the thin hands of the poor.
Pale mothers, wherefore weeping? 'Would to God that we were dead—
Our children swoon before us, and we cannot give them bread.

[quote="JharekCarnelian, post:11, topic:289851"]
This would be unfair to a number of Anglican ministers who also came to their aid, there is one particular minister who worked in Cork who kept sending letters to the govt. pleading for help while trying to aid the local people who eventually died after contracting typhoid fever. He was not alone but his letters are particularly heart breaking as he records whole villages departing overseas and in one particular instance finding a whole family dead. Others also tried to come to our aid, the Chcotaw people tried to contribute what they could as did the Ottoman Sultan of the era interestingly enough. Those Protestant groups which did try and prosleytise did leave a legacy of lasting bitterness though which the Quaker Alfred Webb decried.

Oscar Wilde's mother who was a committed Irish nationalist and wrote under the pen name of Speranza composed this poem at the height of An Gorta Mor:-

Weary men, what reap ye? Golden corn for the stranger.

What sow ye? Human corpses that wait for the avenger.
Fainting forms, Hunger—stricken, what see you in the offing
Stately ships to bear our food away, amid the stranger's scoffing.
There's a proud array of soldiers—what do they round your door?
They guard our master's granaries from the thin hands of the poor.
Pale mothers, wherefore weeping? 'Would to God that we were dead—
Our children swoon before us, and we cannot give them bread.

This would be unfair to a number of Anglican ministers who also came to their aid, there is one particular minister who worked in Cork who kept sending letters to the govt. pleading for help while trying to aid the local people who eventually died after contracting typhoid fever. He was not alone but his letters are particularly heart breaking as he records whole villages departing overseas and in one particular instance finding a whole family dead. Others also tried to come to our aid, the Chcotaw people tried to contribute what they could as did the Ottoman Sultan of the era interestingly enough. Those Protestant groups which did try and prosleytise did leave a legacy of lasting bitterness though which the Quaker Alfred Webb decried.

Oscar Wilde’s mother who was a committed Irish nationalist and wrote under the pen name of Speranza composed this poem at the height of An Gorta Mor:-

Weary men, what reap ye? Golden corn for the stranger.

What sow ye? Human corpses that wait for the avenger.
Fainting forms, Hunger—stricken, what see you in the offing
Stately ships to bear our food away, amid the stranger’s scoffing.
There’s a proud array of soldiers—what do they round your door?
They guard our master’s granaries from the thin hands of the poor.
Pale mothers, wherefore weeping? 'Would to God that we were dead—
Our children swoon before us, and we cannot give them bread.

Speranza

As I am reconstructing my family’s history, I beleive I have found out why my great-grandfather seemed to pop out of nowhere in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania (then called Pittsburg) in 1888.
I tracked him back to England where, apparently, his parents fled Ireland during the Hunger sometime in the late 1840s or early 1850s. My great GREAT grandfather (GGGF) and his family fled through Scotland to England, where the only work available for them were the workhouses, cotton mills. My GGF worked as a cotton spinner as a teen and learned blacksmithing. All the girls stayed in England, while the boys went to America for a better life. My GGF was the youngest and came over in 1886.
As for my GGGF, the trail goes cold before 1851.
I assume the caos of the time prevents even the most adept geneaologist from discovering any facts.

[quote="JustaServant, post:13, topic:289851"]
As I am reconstructing my family's history, I beleive I have found out why my great-grandfather seemed to pop out of nowhere in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania (then called Pittsburg) in 1888.
I tracked him back to England where, apparently, his parents fled Ireland during the Hunger sometime in the late 1840s or early 1850s. My great GREAT grandfather (GGGF) and his family fled through Scotland to England, where the only work available for them were the workhouses, cotton mills. My GGF worked as a cotton spinner as a teen and learned blacksmithing. All the girls stayed in England, while the boys went to America for a better life. My GGF was the youngest and came over in 1886.
As for my GGGF, the trail goes cold before 1851.
I assume the caos of the time prevents even the most adept geneaologist from discovering any facts.

[/quote]

Many genealogical records were also destroyed during the Irish War of Independence when the Custom House in Dublin which housed them and many priceless manuscripts going back centuries was destroyed in the fighting. This adds to the difficulties in tracing family histories. Amusingly enough the Irish side destroyed the building so the British would not have tax records to hand, thus rendering ti difficult for them to govern in the country.

The difference is that many miracles accompanied Christianity, so it convinces others to believe in it, while that 17th century sect did no miracles, so it’s illogical to believe in it, the same thing applies to Islam…

You wouldn't expect to find a lot of Quakers on "catholic.com." They tend not to engage in a lot of debate and disputation. And they're not Catholic -- perhaps the least "catholic" of all the Christian denominations in terms of hierarchy, liturgy, sacraments, etc., etc.

I am a Quaker and would be happy to answer any questions you all may have. I can tell you as a general matter, in response to an earlier post stating that Quakers are the least like Catholocism of all of the demoninations, I disagree.

Because Quakers believe that the real, actual presence of God is with us at meetings, this places us quite similar to Catholics and very different from the other denominations. Much like the Catholic belief in the real presence contained in the Eucharist, Quakers are one of the only other religions to believe in the real presence at our meetings. I can tell you from personal experience, the presence is very real.

When I attend Mass with friends, I get the same feeling, and can feel the true presence of God in the Eucharist. This is just further proof that if we stop and remain still and silent, it is easy to see that we all worship the same beautiful, loving God, even though we might see Him through different lenses at times.